The Canadian snowboarder Ryan James Wedding, who spent the last year on the run from the FBI, has finally been arrested. Wedding is accused of running a violent drug trafficking organization, having been involved with several murders, and ordering the killing of a federal witness.
In November, the FBI raised Wedding’s bounty to $15 million — the highest on its Most Wanted list.
“Make no mistake about it, Ryan Wedding is a modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar,” FBI Director Kash Patel said during a press conference announcing law enforcement action against Wedding.
The drug trafficking ring he allegedly ran routinely imported “hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada, and other locations in the United States,” according to the FBI. It was reportedly a multibillion-dollar crime ring. Authorities allege that Wedding was the largest drug distributor in Canada.
Wedding, who competed on the Canadian Snowboarding Team at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, has been on the run since October 2024. Details on his arrest remain thin, but more information will be announced at a Friday morning news conference, NBC reported.
Ryan Wedding: Alleged Drug Kingpin, Murderer
Wedding, who took 24th in the men’s parallel giant slalom racing event in 2002, changed paths after his Olympic debut. In 2006, he was named in a search warrant in Canada under suspicion of growing large quantities of marijuana. Then, in 2008, he purchased drugs from an undercover agent and was found guilty of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and sentenced to 4 years in prison, according to his athlete profile page on Olympedia.
After he was released, authorities allege his involvement in the drug world only intensified. He was placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list in 2024, with a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
Then, in 2025, the bounty was bumped to $15 million after he allegedly orchestrated the murder of a federal witness who was going to testify against him. The witness was fatally shot at a restaurant, authorities said, after Wedding used a Canadian website to locate him.
It’s still unclear whether Wedding’s arrest was the result of a tip, where he was arrested, or where he is being held. As more of these details become available, we will update this article.
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